Catharsis

A post totally unrelated to Amateur Radio (maybe not), but something I need to get off my chest after many, many years. And this place is as good as any, I guess. I saw on Facebook where a Math teacher that I had in High School just passed away a few days ago at the age of 94. From the comments, she was beloved by many. My experience was 180 degrees out of phase. (To borrow an electronics math term.)

When I completed 6th grade, my parents decided to transfer me from Parochial School to the East Brunswick Public School system. When I entered Churchill Junior High (that's what they called 7th, 8th and 9th Grades back then - now it's called "Middle School") I was placed in an advanced Math program. It's proper name was S.M.C.C.S. or something like that. We called it "Columbia Math" because it was developed at Columbia University.

I did fairly well - always getting As or Bs. The key to that success was a fantastic teacher - Mr. Cady. He made the esoteric and difficult to understand Math principles totally understandable. He was tough, but fair and was always encouraging and would spend extra time with you if you needed extra help.

In 7th Grade, when most kids were doing like Algebra 101, we were studying Venn diagrams, subsets, advanced Algebra, statistics and stuff like that. Mr. Cady made it "do-able".

Three yeas later, in 1972 I entered East Brunswick High School as a Sophomore. I was carried over into the Columbia Match program, because that's what I was taking at Churchill, and was doing well in. My results there were quite different. I had the teacher that I mentioned who just passed away.

She was a Math genius, but as far as I was concerned, a lousy teacher. She made no effort to go out of her way to explain difficult concepts, at least not in my view. She seemed to get annoyed when you couldn't grasp the concepts she was teaching, and extra help was not really offered. I went from getting As and Bs, to Cs at best and lower grades at worst.

After one particular hard exam to end the first quarter of the Sophomore year, she went around the classroom handing back graded tests. Generally, she was pretty pleased. However, and this is something I still remember some 53 years later and will NEVER forget -  when she got to my desk and handed me back my exam ..... she looked me straight in they eye and in a voice loud enough for all the class to hear, actually said, "Unfortunately, some people who are in this class are not smart enough and do not belong here."

I was devastated. She could have brought me on the side offered that maybe another type of class would be a better fit, or something a little more uplifting. IMHO, you NEVER, EVER tell a 15 year old kid that they are stupid. In some ways, I have never recovered from that. I'm still a dunce when it comes to Math. Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm weak, maybe I am stupid when it comes to Math. I was never able to get back to that A or B range in the subject again. My confidence was totally shot. My great grandfather, whom I have been told was a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kiev was probably rolling over in his grave.

In a way, this caused my delay in chasing after my Ham Radio license. I wanted to get it while I was in High School, but the Morse Code eluded me and the thought of Math being involved petrified me. It took about three more years after graduating before I finally took the plunge, determined to buckle down and earn that Novice license. It turned out the Math involved was so basic, that even in idiot like me was able to pass, easily.

But in a strange way, the humiliation that I had to endure brought about a silver lining. When Marv K2VHW and I would hold Technician Class License courses, I was always determined to take the Mr. Cady approach. I always made my best effort to make concepts understandable in plain ol' English, in a way the people could grasp and be comfortable with. And I always made sure to make it clear that I was always available for extra help, if needed.

Thanks, Mr. Cady! I'll never forget you or your classes. May you rest in peace.

And to my readers, thank you for allowing me to vent.

72 de Larry W2LJ

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